


Breakdown

by KarmaTheCreator



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 03:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11728338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarmaTheCreator/pseuds/KarmaTheCreator
Summary: This story was written with the help of Alexishere13.





	1. Howdy

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written with the help of Alexishere13.

Flowey pauses.

He's just gotten through a particularly rough reset.

The smiley trashbag had once again forced him to.

He was definitely an... interesting toy. Something about him seemed strange, but Flowey, for once, couldn't place it.

He did manage to get the upper hand on him several times throught his long history...

Those had been fun.

But recently, that's grown boring.

He's lost motivation, and he's lost the drive to keep killing the trashbag.

He knew that needed to change. This run would be different...

This would be **fun**.

**Lots of fun.**

* * *

 

Flowey disappears into the grounds of new home and soon appears in the forests of Snowdin.

Sure to stay in the shadows and out of sight, he watches the skeleton.

 

He's at his station, sleeping as usual. A bottle of ketchup lies in front of him, dripping onto the snow.

Flowey scoffs. His lazy façade had begun to annoy him; at least it was better than complete apathy.

He keeps watching. He's interested for once; he realized he had never actually seen the skeleton go about his day uninterrupted before.

"SANS!!"

Sans awakes with a start.

Flowey turns with a smile to his second favorite playmate, watching him from behind the trees.

Papyrus was an interesting monster. 

One of the few he'd never managed to break completely.

Not even **once**.

"uhh... 'sup, bro?"

"SLEEPING ON DUTY AGAIN? REALLY, SANS?"

"what can i say? i don't have the-"

"DON'T SAY IT."

" **-guts** to stay awake."

Flowey scoffs again, a bit too loudly. He takes a mental note to keep quiet.

Luckily, Papyrus' groan was loud enough to drown him out.

For a minute, Sans thinks he might have heard something, but he shrugs it off.

Flowey watches on.

"WELL, YOU MUST TRY YOUR BEST TO STAY AWAKE! WE MUST KEEP WATCH FOR HUMANS!"

Sans isn't listening. He's fallen asleep. Again.

"SANS!"

Sans wakes up again.

"ok, that's great, bro...."

"WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING?"

".........................yeah..."

"WHAT DID I SAY, THEN?"

"........................................."

"PRECISELY WHAT I THOUGHT."

"VERY WELL; THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL KEEP WATCH ON HIS OWN!"

"ok, good luck pap"

"NYEHEHEHEHEH!!!"

Papyrus runs off.

A slow smile creeps across Flowey's face.

He's got it.

* * *

 

Laughing quietly to himself, he pops into the ground, following the tall brother.

Papyrus is in the woods, patrolling Snowdin.

Flowey watches, waiting for the right time; he could have no witnesses.

The forest is clear.

Forcing his face into a friendly smile, Flowey once again dives into the ground. Suddenly, he appears a few metres in front of Papyrus, looking him in the eye with a friendly smile.

"Howdy!"

"OH, HELLO THERE! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

Flowey giggles with a small flourish.

"I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

"PLEASED TO MEET YOU, FLOWEY! MY NAME IS PAPYRUS!"

"Wow! I've never met such a strong and cool skeleton! And with such a great name, too!"

"WHY, THANK YOU! YES, I AM VERY GREAT!"

Flowey giggles. Papyrus was so easy to win over; just a single compliment and he'd completely fall to his whim.

"I couldn't help but notice the arguments you've been having with your... brother, is it?"

"OH YES, SANS IS SUCH A LAZYBONES. ALWAYS FALLING ASLEEP AT HIS STATION..."

Flowey giggles.

"Well I was thinking..."

"Maybe he's lazy for a reason."

"Tell me... how do you know that something isn't MAKING your brother lazy?"

"Maybe if you can fix that thing..."

"He won't be lazy anymore!"

"HMM... BUT WHAT WOULD BE MAKING HIM LAZY?"

"I don't know! But I'm sure someone like you could find out without even trying! Just ask him if something's bothering him!"

Flowey giggles.

This was all too easy.

"ALRIGHT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVICE! I CAN TELL THAT YOU AND I ARE GOING TO BE GREAT FRIENDS!"

Flowey giggles.

"Any time... **friend** ~"

And with that, he disappears into the snow, soon back at the sentry station of a certain lazy skeleton.

 


	2. Your Best Friend

Sans has fallen asleep again, not a care in the world.

Flowey smiles.

This would be... interesting.

He watches from behind the trees.

Sans slowly wakes up. He can tell Flowey's there, but he doesn't say anything yet.

Looking into Sans' eyes, Flowey curses his stupidity.

He attempts to recall his last SAVE point.

Crap. It was too late.

Well, no point of ruining the run now.

He watches on, waiting for Papyrus. Perhaps Sans would be distracted.

Papyrus enters.

"OH GOOD, I'M GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU'RE AWAKE, FINALLY!"

"yeah... but i'm still **bone-tired**."

"SANS OH MY GOD."

Flowey chuckles lightly.

Less from the joke, and more from... anticipation.

This would be fun to watch.

"oh whoops, forgot that you don't like being hit in the **funny bone**."

"SANS, WOULD YOU STOP IT WITH THE PUNS?"

"no."

"SANS, I'M SERIOUS!"

"hi, serious..."

"SANS DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT THOUGHT-"

" **i'm sans.** "

"OH MY **GOD**."

Flowey leans through the trees ever-so-slightly, smiling at Papyrus with a wink; a small reminder. Just as Papyrus catches sight of him, he quickly recedes back into the woods.

"whatch'a lookin' at?"

"NOTHING..."

"SANS, I'VE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU: IS THERE ANYTHING BOTHERING YOU?"

"no, why would there be?"

"NO REASON, IT'S JUST... LATELY, YOU SEEM A LITTLE MORE LAZY THAN USUAL."

"i'm just **bone idle**."

"SANS, I'M BEING SERIOUS HERE. IF ANYTHING'S WRONG, PLEASE TELL ME."

"really, pap, i'm fine."

Papyrus continues to look worried.

"promise."

"ALRIGHT, BROTHER. I TRUST YOU."

Flowey smiles.

Papyrus was so fun to use...

Papyrus begins to leave, before saying:

"AND YOU SHOULD REALLY PUT A LITTLE MORE.... 'BACKBONE' INTO YOUR WORK! NYEHEHEHEHEHEH!"

Papyrus runs off.

"heh. good one, bro."

Flowey giggles with interest. In all of his resets, he barely ever got to see Papyrus make a pun.

Smiling, he waits a few moments, before following the skeleton once again.

It was important to study him; he had to make sure this went absolutely perfect.

Papyrus is waiting for him in the forest.

Flowey, with a friendly smile, soon reappears.

"Howdy, friend!"

"HELLO, FLOWEY! I SAW YOU IN THE FOREST. WHAT WERE YOU DOING THERE?"

"Just making sure you remembered what to ask! Your brother is the distracting type, after all~"

"YES, HE CAN BE DISTRACTING SOMETIMES, WITH ALL THOSE STUPID PUNS...."

Flowey giggles. "That's right, Papyrus!"

"But... you know..."

"I still don't entirely believe that nothing's wrong."

"He was acting really weird back there, did you see?"

"YES. THIS IS UNUSUAL, EVEN FOR HIM."

Flowey giggles. "Exactly what I mean! You're a smart boy, Papyrus~"

The flattery continues to lull Papyrus into a false sense of security.

"YES, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM INDEED VERY SMART. TOO SMART FOR MY OWN GOOD, EVEN!"

Flowey giggles.

"That's right!"

"But, Papyrus..."

"I think I might know the problem."

“REALLY?”

Flowey giggles.

"Well? Do you wanna know?"

"YES, OF COURSE!"

Flowey looks behind himself for a moment, as though he's considering responding. He whispers to Papyrus his answer, with a strange sense of glee.

"You."

"WHAT?"

Papyrus is confused, horrified, and shocked at the same time.

"Think about it! What have you done with him since... forever? You've scoffed at his attempts of humor, yelled at him when he's been lazy, refused to help him... you've made him think that you don't care about him, Papyrus! You haven't even considered HIS feelings until I told you to! You're the best person to handle whatever's gotten him down, and if he doesn't think you care about him, how's he supposed to realize when you're helping him? Face it, Papyrus! You're the worst part of Sans's life!"

Flowey laughs.

Papyrus can't speak from shock. All the terrible things he's done to Sans come crashing down on him.

"Nothing to say, pal?"

"I... YOU... YOU'RE RIGHT... I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON..."

"That's right! But who knows? He is your brother. Maybe if you go up to him right now and apologize for everything you've done, he MIGHT just forgive you~"

"But you have to mean it, Papyrus~"

"He needs to know you care about him... and you have to make sure he cares about you~"

"O-OKAY... I'LL-"

A sudden flash of bright white fills the area. Flowey is knocked away from Papyrus. Sans enters, his eye glowing and a gaster blaster behind him.

“ **g e ta w a yf r o mm yb r o t h e r.** "

Flowey frowns.

No... this was all going so right...

Flowey forces a smile and a wink.

With that, he disappears into the forest.

Sans' eye continues to glow for a minute, then his eyes return to normal and he rushes over to Papyrus.

"pap, are you ok? did he hurt you?"

"SANS... I... I'M SORRY..."

"don't apologize. you did nothing wrong. i should have dealt with that weed before he could get to you."

"BUT... EVERYTHING I'VE DONE TO YOU... YOU MUST HATE ME..."

"pap, i could never hate you. you're my brother."

Sans and Papyrus hear a few strange hissing sounds.

Sans' eye begins to glow again.

"pap- we have to leave- now."

Before anything else can be said, a sharp pain enters Papyrus's back. A very sharp pain.

Almost instantly, he feels weak.

"p-papyrus!?"

"S-SANS..."

A single magical pellet appears above Papyrus's head.

Right before it touches him, Sans pulls Papyrus out of the way and knocks the pellet away with a bone.

"D O N ' TY O UD A R E,Y O U **W E E D**."

Flowey is completely out-of-sight.

Sans looks around. When he doesn't see Flowey, he runs over to Papyrus and helps him up. They teleport away.

Flowey giggles.

The plan had failed.

But a new plan had arisen.

He watches intently for either of the brothers' return.

He could stay here for days~.

After a while, Sans teleports back to the forest.

"alright, come out, ya little weed. i know you're there."

Silence.

Dark and silence.

"(i'll tear apart the entire underground if that's what it takes to find him.)"

“(…but i'll give him one more chance.)"

"alright, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. your choice."

. . .

Silence.

Suddenly, the voice of Papyrus rings from the edge of the forest.

"SANS! SANS!"

Sans looks up.

"(what's he doing out here? he should be resting...)"

"pap?"

"COME QUICKLY! IT'S THE FLOWER!"

His eye lights up. He teleports to where the voice is coming from.

He finds...

Nothing?

"just as i thought..."

Suddenly, a vine wraps around him, quicker than he can react.

"Howdy, Sans!"

"there you are..."

His eye glows even brighter.

Flowey giggles.

"Relax, smiley trashbag~"

"You always overreact to things."

"I'm not gonna kill you."

"and i should listen to you why?"

"Because if you don't..."

"You'll suffer a fate far worse than death."

"and what might such a fate be? i'm not gonna do anything for you if you torture me. that doesn't work anymore."

"Oh~"

"You don't want anything to happen to Papyrus, do you?~"

"...you wouldn't **dare**."

"Oh, but I would~"

Flowey giggles.

"if you touch him..."

"Then what?"

"Then you'll blast me apart?"

"I don't think so~"

"I've been going easy on you, Sans~"

"But this time... I won't~"

"..."

Sans suddenly smiles.

"and that's where you're wrong."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"...what do you think i mean?"

Before Flowey can react, a blaster comes up behind him and fires, catching him off guard.

. . .

But Flowey has already disappeared.


	3. Decision

. . .

As she reads, Toriel notices movement in the corner of her vision.

Flowey hasn't done something like this in a long time.

Toriel looks up.

"Hm?"

With this, Flowey begins sobbing.

"Mom! Mom! Help me!"

Toriel is confused for a second.

"Did you just call me-"

She recognizes him.

"Asriel?"

Flowey nods. He's rehearsed this thousands, if not tens of thousands of times before.

"I... I need help!"

"Th-this skeleton is trying to hurt me!"

"He says I wanna hurt his brother!"

"Please help me, mommy!"

"Oh, Asriel, my son... of course I will..."

Wait.

"...A skeleton, did you say?"

Flowey cracks a weak smile; it's the best he can do to frown.

"Y-yes! A skeleton!"

"Have you ever heard him make a joke?"

"Y-yes! All the time!"

"(And now he's hurting my son... I can't trust him to keep his promise...)"

"Show me."

Flowey nods. This was going well~

He slides across the ground, ensuring Toriel follows. It takes up much more energy than just popping in and out, but it makes his position clearer.

As she follows, he approaches the door to the Ruins' exit.

Toriel opens the door.

He leads her into the forest. Sans must be here somewhere...

He looks around for the lazy trashbag.

Sans' voice comes from around the corner.

"alright, come out, ya little weed. you need to be taught a lesson."

Flowey screams and huddles close to Toriel.

"(That voice... it's just as I suspected...)"

This was beautiful...

He comes around the corner and spots Flowey instantly.

"there you are..."

He manages to force out a believable whimper.

Before Sans can attack, Toriel steps in front of Flowey.

"So you're the one hurting my son..."

"...your voice... do i know you?"

"I believe you do. You're the one I would crack jokes with through the door, aren't you?"

"yeah."

"And you're the one who promised to protect the next human who would come through."

"that's me."

"...And yet I can't trust you."

"why's that?"

"Because you're hurting my son for no good reason!"

Flowey cowers.

"he hurt my brother!"

"Don't let him hurt me, mom!"

"...wait... your son?"

"I recognized him when he called me Mom. And as for hurting your brother, I trust my son, and my son says you're lying."

"if you trust him, you're making a big-"

"S... SANS?"

Papyrus staggers around the corner, still quite weak from Flowey's attack.

"pap!?"

Sans rushes up to Papyrus.

"papyrus, what are you doing here? you should be back at home…”

"NO, I'M FINE..."

"P-Papyrus! Friend! Tell Sans I wasn't the one who hurt you!"

"...WHY WOULD I SAY THAT WHEN IT WOULD BE A LIE?"

"I TRUSTED YOU. YOU CALLED US FRIENDS."

"I-I promise! I didn't do it!'

"AND YOU LIED TO ME."

Toriel looks down at Flowey.

"Asriel, what is this?"

"I saw it, mom! I didn't touch him! He just... fell! Someone attacked him, it wasn't me! Please, mommy..."

Flowey begins sobbing.

Toriel doesn't know who to trust anymore. She looks from the skeleton brothers to the creature who used to be her son.

With this, Flowey's face morphs.

It's.... identical to Asriel's.

Looking down at him, tears begin to form in Toriel's eyes.

He huddles close to her. She had always been so weak... so attached... so stupid.

"I... I don't know who to..."

"Please..."

"*don't listen to him. i promise you, he's the one who did this to my brother."

Toriel is getting overwhelmed. She had formed a bond with Sans, telling jokes through the door... she had begun to trust him. So much that she asked him to protect future humans. But then, her son said he was trying to hurt him. Then again, she couldn't tell whether or not he really was her son, or if he was lying to her....

"Please, mom... remember me... remember Chara.-" Flowey begs. As he finishes, his face twitches ever-so-slightly. In an instant, the twitch is gone.

"Chara... they..."

"...No. You can't be my son. Asriel died, along with Chara. My children are dead. You are **not** my son."

"Mommy, please! Please! Please!"

"You have to believe me!"

"I'm sorry, mom!"

"I'm so sorry..."

Pathetic.

"...I just don't know whom to believe."

Flowey looks her in the eye.

The memories from the past timelines come into Sans' mind completely: The experiments he did with Alphys, the anomaly...

"he is your son. he's not lying about that."

"the new royal scientist and i were able to bring him back with determination. but there's a catch."

Flowey looks at him.

"we can revive their minds, so that they still exist... but we can't bring back their souls. they come back with no feelings, only hatred and delight at seeing others suffer."

"if someone who's been brought back with determination acts like they care about you, it's an illusion. they're just using you."

"they cannot be trusted."

". . ."

"please, believe me. you'll regret it if you don't."

"..."

"Asriel, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

With that, a vine rushes forward.

It collides into Toriel before she can react.

"!!!!!"

Flowey winks with his tongue out.

With that, he pops into the ground.

Sans rushes forward to help Toriel.

“are you ok?”

Toriel is at 300/440 HP.

"...I should be fine."

Watching from the shadows, Flowey couldn't help but wince.

His plan was ruined.

"...I'm sorry for not listening to you when I had the chance."

“it's ok, i understand. we hadn't met face-to-face before, and you had just met someone who called himself your son and told you that i was trying to hurt him for no reason.”

“if i were you, i wouldn't have been sure who to trust, either.”

Sans feels a familiar tugging sensation.

He knows what's about to happen.

“…see you two on the other side."

Toriel and Papyrus look confused for a second before the world resets.


End file.
